FORMER champion Darwin trainer Stephen Brown has felt right at home in Melbourne's recent searing temperatures, and the Northern Territory horseman showed he was right at home in the city's top racing company, too, when he sent out Sea Lord to score in the group 2 feature at Moonee Valley on Friday night, the Australia Stakes.

The buzz about the 1200-metre event might not have been quite as great as last year, when the queen of the turf, Black Caviar, pulled a bumper crowd to Moonee Valley, but Brown, who has recently moved south to set up a stable at Flemington, wasn't the least bit concerned by that. Neither was jockey Luke Currie, who scored a welcome winner at group level after a gap of several seasons.

The $7.50 chance has shown a liking for the tight and turning inner city venue, and he certainly rewarded followers of the horses for courses system when he came home 1¼ lengths clear of the evergreen Darley contender Pinwheel (the $2.30 favourite), with the consistent South Australian handicapper Outlandish Lad ($11) rewarding connections' decision to travel over the border with a group 2 placing.

Sea Lord has now run four times at the Valley and won on each occasion - usually at attractive odds. Brown bought the five-year-old gelding as part of a package with established Sydney sprinter Winter King, confessing after the race that he was keener on the latter.

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But now the son of Street Cry is the stable's star and he could seek further glory at even higher level - in the group 1 Newmarket Handicap - later in the autumn.

''We drew one and decided to go forward … he's getting better. We bought him in a package with Winter King … I more wanted Winter King, but I am happy to have him too. He seems to be a Valley specialist, and we ran him here because it was a 1200-metre race.''

Currie, 31, has tasted success at a high level before - he won the group 2 Queen Elizabeth Stakes on Makybe Diva early in the champion's career, and the group 1 Toorak on Robbie Laing's Roman Arch - but not recently.

''It's been a while between drinks but it's a good feeling,'' he said. ''He's a basic sort of horse with a big heart. Every time he's been asked to step up he has, so it's probably worth looking at one of those big handicaps with a light weight.''

Another Valley winner who could be Newmarket bound is Shamexpress, the second winner on the night for Danny O'Brien. Class won out, and the strapping three-year-old colt was easily able to defy top weight of 60 kilograms and run down Day Procedure who, including Jackie Beriman's three-kilogram claim, was in receipt of six kilograms, in the Chandler Macleod Premium Handicap.

O'Brien had initially considered that the son of O'Reilly might be a Derby horse early in his three-year-old career but quickly shelved any such plans when he realised he could be a superior sprinter. He showed the trainer was on the right path with a slashing third in the group 1 Coolmore Stakes during the spring behind Nechita, and he confirmed that impression on Friday.

Shamexpress is likely to be aimed at the Lightning Stakes or Oakleigh Plate en route to the Newmarket, with stablemate Adamantium, where they could face Black Caviar.

''He is a group 1 performer, particularly on short courses, as the Coolmore proved, and that's where he will end up in the autumn,'' O'Brien said. ''Tonight was all about getting a run under his belt and getting another win on the board. Hopefully we will see him in the Newmarket.''

■Tony Vasil's Classic Elle was a late scratching from the second race by order of the stewards. Chief Steward Terry Bailey said: ''After receiving a report from the Compliance Assurance Team stewards interviewed Mr Tony Vasil prior to race one … on the evidence before the stewards Classic Elle was a late scratching.''

An inquiry into the matter has been adjourned to a date yet to be fixed.